ExplainerChina-Australia relations: what’s happened over the past year, and what’s the outlook?

China has targeted Australian barley, beef, wine, lobsters and coal over the past year after Canberra called for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic

Despite ongoing tensions, Australia’s exports to China reached A$145.2 billion (US731.8 billion) in 2020, just 2.16 per cent less than the total in 2019

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China has targeted a number of Australian exports, including barley, beef, wine, lobsters and coal. Photo: Bloomberg News

Published: 4:30am, 20 Apr 2021Updated: 4:51pm, 23 Apr 2021

Relations between China and Australia have become fraught over the past year after Canberra pushed for an international probe into the origin of the coronavirus without diplomatic consultations beforehand, and Beijing eventually responded with a number of trade blocks on wine, barley, cotton, copper, coal, sugar and lobsters. We look at the issues in this series.

China and Australia, two of Asia-Pacific’s biggest trading partners, have been locked in political conflict for the past year resulting in a series of trade disruptions that have not yet been resolved.

On April 19 last year, Australian foreign minister Marise Payne appeared on national television calling for a global inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, including China’s handling of the initial outbreak in the city of Wuhan, without prior diplomatic consultation with Beijing.

In the same week, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison suggested World Health Organization investigators in Wuhan be armed with the same powers as United Nations-backed weapons inspectors.

Since then, Beijing has targeted a number of Australian exports, including barley, beef, wine, lobsters and coal.

What trade actions has China taken against Australia so far?

Early in November last year, Beijing unofficially told Chinese traders to stop importing Australian coal, sugar, barley, lobsters, wine, copper and log timber in the biggest single trade “ban” so far. That followed informal bans on Australian cotton and coal in October.

In May 2020, shortly after the conflict started, China imposed duties on Australian barley following an 18-month anti-dumping investigation. The duties imposed were at the highest end of possible penalties and rendered Australian barley uncompetitive in the Chinese market.

SCMP Series

One year of China-Australia trade tensions

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